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Aviation Unions, FG reach agreement, call off strike

Members of the
Joint Aviation Unions, who had embarked on industrial action on Wednesday to
press home their demands, have reached agreement with the Federal Government
and called off the strike.

The unions are
the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services
Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Association of Aircraft
Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) and Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals
(ANAP).

They are
demanding among other things the review of the staff condition of service,
returning to the original organogram of NCAA and inauguration of the board of
the authority.

The News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the leadership of the unions went into
closed-door meeting with the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika,
at about 6:00 p.m.

At the end of
the meeting that lasted for about three hours, agreement was signed to resolve
the issues amicably.

The National
of President of ATSSSAN, Mr Illistrus Ahmadu, who spoke on behalf of the unions
said that agreements were reached with the minister who promised to look into
demands.

He said that
the minister had promised to look into their demands with the view to
addressing them as quickly as possible.

“On the
condition of service, he promised to personally visit the National Salaries and
Wages Commission to push for its approval.

“He has also
assured us of the government’s readiness to constitute committee to look into
the issue of organogram within seven days.

“We are going
back to Lagos tomorrow to inform our people of the agreement we have reached
and call off the strike,” he said.

The Minister,
Sirika also said that he had promised to look into all the demand put forward
by the union. Sirika expressed his commitment to ensuring that all issues were
resolved as soon as possible.

He said the
issue of non-conformity with the act on the appointment of the board for NCAA
would be looked into to ensure that the board was constituted.

“On the
condition of service which is outside the purview of the ministry, I have
volunteered to go my self to salaries and wages to try to hasten the process.

“On the issue
of organogram which is the crux of the matter, we have agreed to set up a
committee to work out the best acceptable way to all of us.

“The committee
will not be lopsided, we will have them in the committee so that we can look it
because there some things that went wrong,” he said.